Residents First

Greenhalgh's final budget speech: "We are no longer alone"

On Wednesday Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh presented his final budget as leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

Cllr Greenhalgh said:

Tonight’s budget council meeting finds us knee deep in austerity and people are hurting. It also marks the end of a six year road for me as council leader. I am proud to go out as I came in: Cutting council tax without cutting services. Back in 2006, after two decades in opposition, we won a strong mandate for positive change. We gained over 50% of the popular vote and became the first majority Conservative administration since 1968. Despite many neighbouring Conservative Councils falling back to Labour, we were re-elected again resoundingly in 2010.

In six years we have transformed a high cost and ineffective Labour council into a flagship Conservative one. A council that delivers high quality services at the lowest possible cost to the taxpayer. Even though this was considered to be a flagship Labour council.....universal services such as libraries, street cleaning and parks were all poorly managed. The council was knee deep in debt and committed to direct labour whatever the cost or quality of the service.

The overall resident satisfaction score for council services was average for London and 203rd in the country. H&F’s value for money rating was shockingly bad: 363rd out of 387 local authorities. It was this Conservative administration that took control of the council’s finances and got a grip after 20 years of Labour mismanagement and waste. After only two years of Conservative control, H&F’s score for overall council satisfaction score rose to 9th and 10th for value for money in the country.

And it was because we controlled council expenditure that we were able to cut council tax consistently. Even though the sun was not really shining, we fixed the roof....and a lot of other things as well. Council services have improved significantly at the same time as cutting council tax. It was us - not Ken Livingstone – that introduced and funded the round-the-clock beat policing in our three town centres. Crime has been falling consistently year after year.

Last summer we were surrounded by a ring of riots in Ealing, Brent, Notting Hill and Clapham. Yet H&F clocked up only 10 offences whereas Ealing suffered 300 crimes. And for that I pay tribute to the Borough Commander and the local police for keeping our streets safe Anti-social behaviour on our council estates is being challenged. We have taken active steps to evict the worst tenants and roll out CCTV on our estates. The introduction of competitive tendering has reduced the council’s expenditure while improving services.

Our streets are now consistently amongst the cleanest in London and we can take pride in the state of our parks. We introduced the popular same day refuse and recycling collection service and ensured that the refuse is collected before the streets are cleaned. 98% of streets are now maintained to Tidy Britain standards which is amongst the best scores in London. Not a single park had a green flag when we took control of this council and now seven have green flags.....with more to come. We are keeping all our libraries open with creative solutions that involve cutting overhead and using volunteers.

And we continue to protect the vulnerable with a wider safety net than the vast majority of councils in London. Our voluntary sector grant allocation is the sixth most generous in London in cash terms – over £4 million. This has all been achieved despite Labour attacks every step of the way and promises that bear no relation to the reality of Labour’s record in power. Well tonight is the moment when we give something back to every council taxpayer in this borough.

I am delighted to announce that we will be cutting council tax in Hammersmith & Fulham to the level that it was a decade ago. And we are no longer alone. A small band of other Conservative-run councils are lowering their council tax this year: Windsor & Maidenhead, Brentwood, South Holland, South Oxfordshire, Stratford-on-Avon, Tendring and of course, Boris’s GLA. We are proud that we are now part of the West London low tax zone where four Conservative-run councils are setting the lowest council tax levels not just in the capital but in the country.

I am so delighted...and touched to see that the Labour opposition leader rejects tax-and-spend policies in the Guardian! I think it’s fair to say that we are all council tax cutters in Hammersmith & Fulham now! And I admire the...the sheer ambition of this Labour opposition in pledging to cut council tax even more than we are doing. I am struggling to see how they might achieve this. Certainly not by switching off the lights of the town hall extension, sacking one official or cracking down on consultancy spend.

And no- one can pretend that all this has been possible because we are hiking the council’s fees & charges. If we exclude parking revenue, the projected income from fees & charges is £2 million less than the actual income received in the last year that Labour set the budget. Once inflation is taken into account this represents an £8 million drop in income. Admittedly parking income has gone up because of a modest increase in enforcement income but it is still £2 million less in real terms than the £23.6 million income collected in the last year of a Labour council.

I also remind my fellow councillors that today this Conservative council employs 2000 less full time equivalent staff, spends £10 million less on agency staff and has a far lower spend on consultants which was not even monitored at the time that we took over. And we are paying down council debt in H&F to its lowest level in more than a quarter of a century. 26 YEARS AGO was the last time that the council debt was below £100 million. This means that we can put £7 million back in to delivering frontline council services rather than servicing council debt.

We want to be remembered for something that can be captured by 3 simple words: Release, reduce and reform: These are the 3 Rs of common sense local government. We are releasing underutilised assets and cutting the size of the council’s municipal footprint by a third. We are selling off Fulham Town Hall for over £10 million and thereby saving £500,000 a year in running costs. We are disposing of Palingswick House, Sands End Community Centre, Bulwer Street and the Irish Centre back to the Irish.

We are reducing overhead by combining services with Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. We have cut the size of the senior management team by a third in the last year alone. Finally we are reforming the way that local services are delivered as part of the government’s area and neighbourhood community budget programme. The result of that hard work is that the course is set and we can now cut council tax bills for the 5th year out of six.

Council tax bills will drop by 3.75% the biggest council tax cut in the whole country. Our bills were the 11th highest in London when we took over in 2006 but now we can boast that we have the THIRD LOWEST IN BRITAIN. The course is set and the vision is clear. Hammersmith & Fulham Council is and will remain a low tax council and this Borough of Opportunity is poised for major economic and housing growth. And our local schools are the engines of social mobility. I am proud that H&F is the top borough in the UK for the number of pupils going to top universities from our state schools.

Children from poorer backgrounds are now more likely to succeed here than virtually anywhere else in the UK. We are also the `most free-school friendly council in the country with two free schools opening this year and more in the pipeline. The result? Well...the number of local parents choosing H&F schools has doubled since we took control! For us schools of choice is more than just a slogan. In this borough of contrasts the aspiration of home ownership must belong to the many not the few.

And we have delivered a ladder of housing opportunity for our residents to own a stake in their own home. We launched H&F Home Buy which has helped 600 people on to the housing ladder who could not afford to buy on the market. And it is this Conservative council that has the drive and ambition to regenerate our most deprived areas. This is a Conservative Council that is cutting tax consistently, paying down debt whilst improving the council services that matter most to our residents. I am so proud to have led this council for the last 6 years and I am proud of this budget which I commend to you all and ask for your wholehearted support.

 

Labour’s £50m blackhole – the missing millions that could bankrupt H&F

Cllr Andrew Johnson, Cabinet Member for Housing, on this evening's budget setting council meeting

Tonight the Conservative administration will present its 2012/13 budget for approval at a meeting of Full Council. The budget is historic for many reasons, not least for the fact that once again the administration is proposing to cut council tax by -3.75%. This, combined with the announcement by the Mayor of London that he is cutting the GLA precept, will bring some relief to our hard pressed residents and local taxpayers. Relief that, in these times of austerity and rising prices, this Conservative council is doing all it can to reduce the tax burden locally, whilst at the same time protecting frontline services and driving up standards.

However, tonight’s meeting looks set to be historic for another reason. Namely that this looks likely to be the 6th budget meeting in a row where the opposition will fail to table an alternative budget to the one proposed by the administration. Now, I could be wrong, I could be surprised, but I doubt it. You see the omens are not looking promising. The fact that they didn’t bother to attend the Cabinet meeting where the budget was discussed, or failed to table amendments during the scrutiny committee stage, doesn’t bode well.

So what would Labour do were, heaven forbid, they to be running the Town Hall. Well having  analysed   what they have said, at last year’s budget council meeting and subsequently, the additional spending commitments made, and cuts they would reverse, we would be facing the prospect of a £50m blackhole in the Council’s budget. A figure that could bankrupt H&F.

A pretty strong statement you might say, so let’s look at the facts.

They want to reverse the 2011/12 savings - £26.7 million

They want to cancel Tri-Borough - £3.1million

They won’t support the proposed 2012/13 savings

They would stop paying down the debt - £1.8 million in interest per year

They would reverse fee increases and scrap new charges (or so they
say) - £8 million

They would spend millions more on policing - £13 million

Total cost £ 52.6 million

But what about Labour’s savings you may say, for they say they have some. Well yes, they do all £2.85 million of them. But that still leaves nearly £50 million to find.

So, what is the Labour solution to their funding gap? I’m sure you can guess. It’s the tried and failed formula of increasing debt. They’ve admitted it, they’re addicted to it.

“Hammersmith’s debt is more affordable than ever due to low interest rates.” Cllr Andrew Jones (Labour) Budget Council 23rd February 2011

Labour, you just can’t trust them when it comes to spending (wasting) your money.

Council Tax to be cut by 3.75% as Stephen announces he is standing down

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh writes:

PAYING down council debt, cutting council tax, improving council services –  sounds too good to be true? In this country we are brought up with the ethos that reducing public expenditure or lowering taxes has to mean reduced services…however else can you do it?

Yet Hammersmith & Fulham has turned this public spending equation on its head. Today, as the soon to be departing Council Leader of H&F, I am proud of the fact that we are announcing our fifth council tax cut in six years.

At the same time we are on course to cut our historic debt burden of £176 million in half by 2014. This is not just an exercise in budgetary control – cutting the council's historic debt means that we can spend £9.1 million a year more on frontline council services rather than on debt repayments. That money spent on ensuring that our streets are cleaner, maintaining parks, putting extra police on the streets and keeping our libraries open.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh's speech to The TaxPayers Alliance

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh's speech a fringe meeting of The TaxPayers Alliance at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester is available on YouTube

 

Minister encourages other councils to follow H&F lead and publish assets

The first local authority in Britain to publish a list of all its assets online has welcomed Eric Pickles’ call for other councils to follow suit.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council, the most transparent local authority in the country, published its asset register for all to see in June 2010, over a year before the communities secretary suggested that it should become common practice. The beacon council, which was also the first in Britain to publish details online on its spending, is currently selling under-used assets in order to protect front-line services as a result of the national debt crisis. It decided to publish its asset register as another way to ensure that residents could scrutinise its performance and hold it to account.

Encouraging other local authorities to show a similar level of openness, Eric Pickles said: “I want the public sector to take a good hard look at what they own. By cataloguing each and every asset, councils can help the government find innovative new ways to utilise them, improve local services, keep council running costs down and save taxpayers' money.

Locally and nationally - Labour opposing the Council Tax freeze

This year's Council budget provided for a Council Tax freeze. Labour councillors voted against the budget -  while feeling to offer any amendments for an alternative budget. In the previous four years, where there has been an annual 3% cut, Labour denounced the budget - then abstained.

Nationally Labour are even more clear in opposing the Council Tax freeze. Last week it was confirmed that a Government initiative has led to every council in England announcing a council tax freeze or cut this year. The response was that another Labour Shadow Minister has attacked the move that will bring real help to hard-working families and pensioners. Lord Beecham, Labour’s Shadow Local Government Minister in the Lords, has claimed that "A freeze builds up financial trouble for the future." This follows recent Labour criticism of the freeze by Shadow Local Government Minister Chris Williamson, who labelled it "nothing more than a gimmick."

Lord Beecham’s comments are also incorrect. Despite the need to pay off Labour’s deficit, councils are being given almost an extra £3 billion of central funding over four years to support the freeze in 2011-12. This will stop council tax soaring next year after the one-year freeze. Compared to a 5 per cent rise (the last Government’s typical capping limit in recent years), a freeze will save an average family up to £72 a year on a Band D home. Over four years, this lower rate of council tax is worth up to £288.

Local Government Minister Bob Neill MP said:

“It is unsurprising that Labour, who more than doubled council tax and refused a council tax freeze in England during their time in office, are now slating an initiative that will bring families savings of up to almost £300 over the next four years.

“While the Government is striving to bring real help to hard-working families and pensioners, Labour is once again shown to be out of touch with the everyday concerns of local residents across the country”.

London Labour boroughs cost £1,031

Across London Council Tax bills are landing on doormats. The Band D Council Tax level among the Labour councils in London is an average of £1,031 in the coming financial year. The average along the London Lib Dem boroughs is £1,247.

In Conservative-run Hammersmith and Fulham it is £812. Over £200 a year less than in Labour boroughs. Over £400 a year less than in Lib Dem boroughs. While our services are better - as measured by both resident satisfaction and independent inspection.

On top of these sums there is the precept for the Mayor of London. That is £310 for Band D. Much lower than it would have been had Ken Livingstone remained Mayor.

The Conservatives cost you less.

Council Tax prize draw

Pay your council tax by direct debit and you may just win £25,000!

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is one of 15 London local authorities encouraging residents to pay their monthly council tax bill by direct debit.

And with one lucky London resident set to win £25,000 by switching to direct debit, there has never been a better time to make the change.

Processing direct debits generates long-term cost savings to the council. And with H&F needing to save £65m over the next three years due to the national debt crisis, increasing the amount of tax collected by direct debit has never been so important.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader of the Council, said:

“We have cut council tax by three per cent for the last four years and are freezing it this year, meaning that H&F residents will be paying the fourth lowest bills in the country. By increasing direct debit volumes, we can make huge savings that can be incorporated back into the provision
of council services.”

To be entered into the draw, Hammersmith & Fulham residents must register to pay their council tax bill by Direct Debit before 5pm on July 14, 2011. Simply return a completed paper Direct Debit Instruction to the council; sign up to Direct Debit on the council’s website www.lbhf.gov.uk/ctax_directdebit; or call 0845 803 1020. Residents who already pay their council tax bill by Direct Debit will be automatically entered into the prize draw.

Taking this year’s council tax freeze into account, the council’s share of a Band D council tax bill for 2011/2012 is £811.78. This means that a typical H&F taxpayer is in the region of £500 better off than the average Londoner over five years.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of London has frozen his share of the bill at
£309.82 making the overall total £1,121.60 for a Band D property.

Last year’s £25,000 prize was won by a Haringey resident who has paid
his council tax by Direct Debit for over 15 years. This year’s winner
will be drawn on 19th July 2011.

The chutzpah of Cllr Cowan

Cllr Harry Phibbs writes

Shepherd's Bush blogger Chris Underwood makes the extraordinary comment on his blog last night that Cllr Stephen Cowan, the Labour Group leader on Hammersmith and Fulham Council, "doesn't really do chutzpah."

Chris, chutzpah is in Cllr Cowan's DNA. It's his middle name. His irreducible essence. He is the physical manifestation. The embodiment of chutzpah. Cllr Cowan is chutzpah made flesh.

Cllr Cowan's speech last night was pretty typical. He complained that the Council employed too many HR managers. When the Conservative administration took over from Labour there was a total HR headcount of 100 posts at a cost of £4,612.834.  HR headcount has been cut over time and today it is down to 47 posts (a total reduction of 53 posts) costing £2,816.300. This has resulted in a total saving of £1,796.534.

He complained too much was spent on communications.

Yet under Labour Communications spending was £1.14 million. We are halving that cost. According to an Evening Standard survey our total spending on publicity at £669,000 is the second lowest of the 32 London boroughs. Only Bexley spends less. Southwark spends over £5 million. We have slashed spending on spin and cut the number of Communications staff from 13 under Labour to seven. The cost of h&f news is much lower than the previous Council publication HM Magazine which cost £400,000 a year.

Allowances to be frozen for third year running

Britain's best council is proposing to freeze councillors' allowances for the third year running.

That means that the basic rate allowance will be £8,940 - exactly the same as it was in 2008-9.

Cabinet members and those councillors with special responsibilities will also see their level of allowance remain the same.

According to reports, since 2005 councillor allowances across Britain have risen by up to 150 per cent per cent. In Hammersmith & Fulham the increase has only been eight per cent during that period.

Cllr Harry Phibbs, cabinet member for community engagement, said:

"The council is facing a once-in-a-generation squeeze on its finances so it is only fair that members do their bit and respond to this period of great financial uncertainty.

"Our approach in freezing member allowances is symbolic of our value for money ethos which runs throughout the council. We understand the economic pain that is out there and we are responding. The rigorous scrutiny of every penny spent starts at the top.

"The Council has to save £27 million in 2011/12, rising to £65 million over the next three years as a result of the national debt crisis and we are squeezing every pound and every penny to avoid cutting the services that matter to residents the most."

Hammersmith & Fulham Council is the best council in Britain according to the Local Government Chronicle. Judges praised the council for 'doing something very special in difficult times' and for providing residents with the best value-for-money deal possible.

As part of its drive to cut its £133 million historic debt, the council is selling off buildings it no longer needs and combining some services with neighbouring Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

The council has cut council tax by three per cent for the last four years and intends to freeze it this year.

Members will decide whether to freeze allowances at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday, February 23.